DOMINICAN REPUBLIC The Old Man is Back
Black, Jan Knippers
Imagine the president of a poor country throwing a Christmas party, inviting all the little urchins to the presidential palace, and then placing the military and police in charge...
...Bombs exploded in Santo Domingo and Santiago, the country's second-largest city, where 20 were injured...
...That climate changed suddenly and dramatically during the riots and protests this spring...
...A series of bombings did take place in early May, and there have been calls for the president to declare a state of siege...
...By curtailing U.S...
...At any rate, the climate that so recently pre- vailed, in which all of the country's ills were blamed on his runaway predecessor, served Balaguer very well indeed...
...In the meantime, the president has used them to fill subcabinet positions where he needs competent people who can be counted on not to steal...
...The police pursue the generally less lucrative mordidas they can extract from traffic offenders and street vendors...
...Bosch's PLD is generally acknowledged to be the best organized party in the country...
...Their leaders still believe that they stand one day to inherit Balaguer's base in the peasantry...
...The Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), which Bosch established in 1973 as his new political vehicle, has gained followers at the expense of the sinking P1W and may have benefited as well from Balaguer's relatively benign attitude toward it...
...The record of born-again democratic Balaguer in this regard stands in stark contrast to that of his previous administrations, as well as to that of Jorge Blanco.* However, 1987 witnessed a nasty sequence of events involving two young Dominicans of Haitian ancestry who attempted to help secure some rights for Haitian workers at a sugar plantation near the border...
...According to a retired army officer who was among those selected by their peers to brief the president on military grievances, Bosch tried to pull the plug on military corruption...
...Or so it seemed, until the outbreak of the 1988 spring riots...
...Balaguer's choice for secretary of the armed forces was sure to displease some of the military's career officers, but might be reassuring to the Pentagon and the CIA...
...By early March, casualties included 10 dead and some 20 wounded, with several thousand protesters arrested...
...One of them was killed when army troops with machine guns blast- ing broke up a meeting...
...Whether the armed forces would then allow him to take office may have more to do with developments in the United States than in the Dominican Republic...
...It is not entirely clear that Balaguer wants to bring Jorge Blanco back to the island to stand trial, despite having raised public anger to a frenzy...
...The Christian Democrats, whose recent merger with Balaguer's Reformist Party provided Balaguer with valuable international ties and legitimacy, have not as yet reaped much from the bargain...
...He also conspired a time or two in the early 1970s against the government of Balaguer...
...If order or efficiency were intended, they too were missed by a long shot...
...Foreign investors might be reassured by the presence of Carlos A. Morales Troncoso in the vice-presidency...
...Given the steady decline in living standard of the poor majority, the ambient that prevailed until early 1988 was remarkably calm and stable...
...Their leaders still believe that they stand one day to inherit Balaguer's base in the peasantry...
...And the crisis of deprivation is now his own...
...Moveover, it is rumored that several million dollars allotted annually to "national security" simply disappeared.* His highest-ranking military and police appointees are also under indictment, largely as a consequence of denunciations originating from within the military...
...And the crisis of deprivation is now his own...
...Some speculated that Balaguer had drawn Imbert and Wessin into his cabinet in order to keep an eye on them--figuratively, since he is almost blind...
...Balaguer simply indicated that he understood the situa- tion but was not in a position to do anything about it...
...The Navy has the concession for facilitating illegal exit to Puerto Rico...
...If security were the purpose of the military presence, it was not very effective...
...Her most recent work, The Dominican Republic: Politics and Development in an Unsovereign State was published by Allen & Unwin in 1986...
...Balaguer simply indicated that he understood the situation but was not in a position to do anything about it...
...Human Rights Commission in late 1987 ruled in favor of reparations for those brutalized by the Jorge Blanco government's tactics in the course of the 1984 riots...
...This president, meanwhile, maintains an ascetic lifestyle and is universally acclaimed for his "personal" integrity...
...Antonio Imbert Barrera is one of two survivors of those who, at the behest of the CIA, assassinated Trujillo in 1961...
...And in the course of the long ordeal, there were surely more children terrorized than thrilled...
...Human Rights Commission in late 1987 ruled in favor of reparations for those brutalized by the Jorge Blanco govern- ment's tactics in the course of the 1984 riots...
...By curtailing U.S...
...When the indictment was served in May 1987 he sought asylum in the Venezuelan embassy, where he "suffered a heart at- tack" and was allowed to travel to the United States for an indefinite period of "medical observation...
...A National Strike Committee, comprised of labor confederations and civic and neighborhood organizations, then launched a 48-hour general strike on April 7. Yet, the uprising seems to have been defused...
...Even Bosch and other political opponents give full credence to Balaguer's assertion that corruption stops at the door to his office...
...Bosch's PLD is generally acknowledged to be the best organized party in the country...
...Balaguer's approach to the country's severe economic problems-printing pesos to cover a new public works program, and more recently to stimulate agricultural productionhas generated new jobs but has also resulted in devaluation and accelerated inflation (officially about 30%, but seemingly much higher...
...Winn the indictment was served in May 1987 he sought asylum in the Venezuelan embassy, where he "suffered a heart at- tack" and was allowed to travel to the United States for an indefinite period of "medical observation...
...It seems that negotiations between labor and business leaders mediated by the Catholic hierarchy have quelled the unrest for the shortterm...
...The country's two aging caudillos Balaguer and former president Juan Bosch have been the central figures since the early 1960s, when Balaguer inherited the military-based political machine of the fearsome dictator Trujillo, and Bosch took on the old guard at the head of the country's first middle- and working-class party, the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD...
...Widely accredited charges against him range from the massive allocation to friends and political cronies of tax exemptions for the importation of cars and industrial products, to conspiracy in currency exchange and drug-related deals...
...it claimed 18% of the vote in the last election and has been growing steadily ever since...
...This group competes for influence with the other nouveau riche, the narcotraficantes, some of whom ply their trade in the Dominican Republic, while others merely use the country to launder money earned elsewhere...
...Reid Cabral is serving as minister of foreign affairs...
...Jorge Blanco is under indictment for allegedly trying to muscle in on such scams...
...Army enterprises are rather more diversified, including the taking of bribes from Haitians entering illegally and the confiscation of their purchases as they leave...
...Morales Troncoso, previously a local manager for the U.S.-based Gulf and Western, has become a major stockholder in the properties of the Fanjul brothers, who bought out Gulf and Western in early 1985...
...Old Faces Balaguer's appointments this time around are a veritable Who's Who of the center to Right, including many of his one-time enemies...
...A particularly well-connected political insider maintains that the three armed services have become highly specialized in their profit-making endeavors...
...The officer corps apparently feels strongly that the in- stitution should run its own rackets without interference or competition from civilian authorities...
...Imagine the president of a poor country throwing a Christmas party, inviting all the little urchins to the presidential palace, and then placing the military and police in charge of distributing the gifts...
...Many more were hurt in the capital in confrontations with police riot squads...
...laden with gifts on January 6. The outcome was predictable: hoards of ragged children storming the palace gates, pushing and shoving, climbing over and through the fence, only to be thrown back again by machine-gun toting guards...
...WessIn masterminded the coup against the government of Juan Bosch in 1963 and, with the help of the U.S...
...The foreign reserves, accumulated first of all from remittances from Dominican emigrants, second from tourism, and to an pnknown degree from drug deals, cannot be expected to adequately service the $4 billion foreign debt...
...The in- terior secretary, in charge of the police and of "public order," is the omnipresent Gen...
...As he found during his previous presidential terms, most officers are willing to surrender considerable political power and to address total loyalty to him in exchange for the opportunity to enrich themselves at the public's expense...
...But Balaguer is now on notice that his skillful bargaining and conciliation to mitigate conflict among elites is no substitute for addressing the urgent needs of the poor...
...Balaguer's choice for secretary of the armed forces was sure to displease some of the military's career officers, but might be reassuring to the Pentagon and the CIA...
...Given the steady decline in living standard of the poor majority, the ambient that prevailed until early 1988 was remarkably calm and stable...
...No new generation of leaders is apparent in Balaguer's Social Christian Reformist Party (PRSC), or in any other party for that matter...
...It could be he fears the testimony might spill over into matters not directly attributable to the previous administra- tion...
...foreign policy...
...In fact, that reputation for personal integrity is one of the important attributes that the two caudillos have in common and that sets them apart from most of the political leaders of more recent vintage...
...This of course leaves Balaguer free to mediate among services and factions whose loyalty is above all to him...
...This of course leaves Balaguer free to mediate among services and factions whose loyalty is above all to him.* *After a rumored coup attempt in early June, Balaguer dismissed Imbert and replaced him with Wessin as secretary of the armed forces, reinstating him to the army from which he had been expelled by then president Juan Bosch in 1963...
...The interior secretary, in charge of the police and of "public order," is the omnipresent Gen...
...After a year and a half in office this time around--the first of his five presidential terms he clearly holds by popular choice-his teflon remained unscratched...
...It is also irreparably split between the factions of Jacobo Majluta and Jose Fran cisco Pena Gomez...
...Wessin masterminded the coup against the government of Juan Bosch in 1963 and, with the help of the U.S...
...It seems that negotiations between labor and business leaders mediated by the Catholic hierarchy have quelled the unrest for the shortterm...
...Today Dominican politics remains a pas de deux and, in the context of the late 1980s, it seems an almost graceful one...
...Moveover, it is rumored that several million dollars allotted annually to "national security" simply disappeared.5 His highest-ranking military and police appointees are also under indictment, largely as a consequence of denunciations originating from within the military...
...The Air Force, he says, has the narcotrafico protection franchise...
...This president, meanwhile, maintains an ascetic lifestyle and is universally acclaimed for his "personal" integrity...
...And on various occasions since Balaguer's return to the presidency, there has appeared to be an un- spoken accord between them to re- serve their attacks for the younger generation of politicians...
...It is not entirely clear that Balaguer wants to bring Jorge Blanco back to the island to stand trial, despite having raised public anger to a frenzy...
...The Air Force, he says, has the narcotrafico protection franchise...
...But the Dominican armed forces had their own motives, which went well beyond the publicly paraded reasons of maintaining order and fighting communism...
...Officers of the frontier batallion, commanded by one of defense minister Imbert Barrera's sons, alleged that the young man had been killed by his friend, who was duly jailed to await trial...
...The country's two aging caudillos-Balaguer and former president Juan Bosch-have been the central figures since the early 1960s, when Balaguer inherited the military-based political machine of the fearsome dictator Trujillo, and Bosch took on the old guard at the head of the country's first middle- and working-class party, the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD...
...But a new class of finan- ciers has learned to profit from the country's economic prostration through currency exchange deals and speculation in scarce commodities...
...Bosch, still physically and mentally robust at 79, may yet be reelected to the presidency in 1990...
...The two grand old men of contemporary Dominican history, both scholars and men of letters as well as politicians, have long been known to hold a certain respect for each other...
...In fact, the fortunes of presidents since the fall of Trujillo reveal a great deal about the role of graft in Dominican politics...
...The record of born-again democrat- ic Balaguer in this regard stands in stark contrast to that of his previous administrations, as well as to that of Jorge Blanco.* However, 1987 witnessed a nasty sequence of events in- volving two young Dominicans of Haitian ancestry who attempted to help secure some rights for Haitian workers at a sugar plantation near the border...
...The two grand old men of contemporary Dominican history, both scholars and men of letters as well as politicians, have long been known to hold a certain respect for each other...
...Morales Troncoso, previously a local manager for the U.S.-based Gulf and Western, has become a major stockholder in the properties of the Fanjul brothers, who bought out Gulf and Western in early 1985...
...Balaguer initiated tripartite talks with business, labor and government, mediated by the Catholic Church, to reach a peaceful settlement...
...Ellas WessIn y WessIn...
...Today Dominican politics remains a pas de deux and, in the context of the late 1980s, it seems an almost graceful one...
...After a rumored coup attempt in early June, Balaguer dismissed Imbert and replaced him with WessIn as secretary of the armed forces, reinstating him to the army from which he had been expelled by then president Juan Bosch in 1963...
...Ironically, he has also profited from his failure to establish a real party or any other civilian institution of consequence...
...arms purchases he threatened to put an end to some of the armed forces' more lucrative rackets, such as resale, cuts for purchasing agents, etc...
...Reid Cabral is serving as minister of foreign affairs...
...It could be he fears the testimony might spill over into matters not directly attributable to the previous administration...
...government...
...Even Bosch and other political opponents give full credence to Balaguer's assertion that corruption stops at the door to his office...
...The coup d'etat of 1963 that so abbreviated Juan Bosch's presidency had many authors, not the least of which were agents and agencies of the U.S...
...But a new class of financiers has learned to profit from the country's economic prostration through currency exchange deals and speculation in scarce commodities...
...The Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), which Bosch established in 1973 as his new political vehicle, has gained followers at the expense of the sinking PRD and may have benefited as well from Balaguer's relatively benign attitude toward it...
...Sticky Fingers To a very large extent, Balaguer's durability hinges on his approach to corruption...
...Late last year, when Imbert put forth his nominees for chiefs of the three services, the president not only vetoed them, but pushed them into early retirement...
...Foreign investors might be reassured by the presence of Carlos A. Morales Troncoso in the vice-presidency...
...At any rate, the military officers in the cabinet are figures from another epoch who today com- mand little following of their own...
...But Balaguer is now on notice that his skillful bargaining and conciliation to mitigate conflict among elites is no substitute for addressing the urgent needs of the poor...
...arms purchases he threatened to put an end to some of the armed forces' more lucrative rackets, such as resale, cuts for purchasing agents, etc...
...One of them was killed when army troops with machine guns blasting broke up a meeting...
...Majluta, generally viewed as an able but corrupt politician, is believed to have a firmer grip on party machinery, particularly in the provinces...
...But as ambassador Guido D'Alessandro, serving for the second time in a Balaguer government, says of the enigmatic president: "Anybody who says he understands Balaguer's plans or motivations is lying...
...it claimed 18% of the vote in the last election and has been growing steadily ever since...
...In fact, the cast of characters in Dominican poli- tics has been remarkably stable for more than two dozen years...
...In the meantime, the president has used them to fill subcabinet positions where he needs competent people who can be counted on not to steal...
...Antonio Imbert Barrera is one of two survivors of those who, at the behest of the CIA, assassinated Trujillo in 1961...
...In fact, the fortunes of presidents since the fall of Trujillo reveal a great deal about the role of graft in Dominican politics...
...Marines, put down the uprising of Bosch's constitutionalist forces in 1965...
...But violence erupted once again on April 6, as thousands took part in nationwide demonstrations...
...Even after the bullet found in a second autopsy *The slow-moving machinery of the U.N...
...Balaguer is careful not to tread on the military's toes...
...In fact, that reputation for personal integrity is one of the important attributes that the two caudillos have in common and that sets them apart from most of the political leaders of more recent vintage...
...was traced to the army, he remained in prison and a few days later was reported to have committed suicide following interrogation...
...Old Faces Balaguer's appointments this time around are a veritable Who's Who of the center to Right, including many of his one-time enemies...
...That is precisely what Dominican president Joaquin Balaguer did, although as in most Latin countries it was the Three Kings, not Santa Claus, who arrived Jan Knippers Black, who teaches at the University of New Mexico, has authored, edited or co-authored more than two dozen books on Latin America and U.S...
...Widely accredited charges against him range from the massive allocation to friends and political cronies of tax exemptions for the importation of cars and industrial products, to conspiracy in currency exchange and drug-related deals...
...The PRD remains profoundly discredited by the economic failures and the much-heralded corruption of the administration of Salvador Jorge Blanco (1982-86...
...But a sevenpoint plan was signed on May 24, which offered concessions to all sides...
...Balaguer's approach to the country's severe economic problems printing pesos to cover a new public works program, and more recently to stimulate agricultural production has generated new jobs but has also resulted in devaluation and accelerated inflation (officially about 30%, but seemingly much higher...
...As he found during his previous presidential terms, most officers are willing to surrender considerable political power and to address total loyalty to him in exchange for the opportunity to enrich themselves at the public's expense...
...S REPORT ON THE AMERICAS REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 8The PRD, abandoned by Bosch in 1973, finally returned to power in 1978, but after two tumultuous terms was defeated by Balaguer's PRSC coalition in 1986...
...Late last year, when Imbert put forth his nominees for chiefs of the three services, the president not only vetoed them, but pushed them into early retirement...
...That climate changed suddenly and dramatically during the riots and protests this spring...
...Sticky Fingers To a very large extent, Balaguer's durability hinges on his approach to corruption...
...A general strike in July 1987 generated no disorder (due in part to the curiously passive role played by PLD- dominated student and labor groups), and police did not fire a single shot a restraint duly noticed and publicly praised by human rights monitors...
...Was the elderly president's reputation besmirched by such a fiasco...
...Elias Wessin y Wessfn...
...Majluta, generally viewed as an able but corrupt politician, is believed to have a firmer grip on party machinery, particularly in the provinces...
...But the Dominican armed forces had their own motives, which went well beyond the publicly paraded reasons of maintaining order and fighting communism...
...Even after the bullet found in a second autopsy *The slow-moving machinery of the U.N...
...A general strike in July 1987 generated no disorder (due in part to the curiously passive role played by PLDdominated student and labor groups), and police did not fire a single shot--a restraint duly noticed and publicly praised by human rights monitors...
...The police pursue the generally less lucrative mordidas they can extract from traffic offenders and street vendors...
...The Christian Democrats, whose recent merger with Balaguer's Reformist Party provided Balaguer with valuable international ties and legiti- macy, have not as yet reaped much from the bargain...
...At any rate, the military officers in the cabinet are figures from another epoch who today command little following of their own...
...Some speculated that Balaguer had drawn Imbert and WessIn into his cabinet in order to keep an eye on them figuratively, since he is almost blind...
...But as ambassador Guido D'Alessandro, serving for the second time in a Balaguer government, says of the enigmatic president: * 'Anybody who says he understands Balaguer's plans or motivations is lying...
...No new generation of leaders is apparent in Balaguer's Social Christian Reformist Party (PRSC), or in any other party for that matter...
...The PRD remains pro- foundly discredited by the economic failures and the much-heralded corruption of the administration of Salvador Jorge Blanco (1982-86...
...The coup d'etat of 1963 that so abbreviated Juan Bosch's presidency had many au- thors, not the least of which were agents and agencies of the U.S...
...The protests that began the third week of February over low wages, the soaring costs of basic goods and services, and the scarcity of such amenities as electricity and potable water, were remarkably widespread...
...but Pena Gomez's popularity among the poor of Santo Domingo probably gives him better long-term prospects of reviving the party...
...Those who finally received a bicycle, a toy truck or race car, a doll or a tea set, generally emerged crying and screaming rather than laughing...
...MAY/JUNE 1988 9 The PRD, abandoned by Bosch in 1973, finally returned to power in 1978, but after two tumultuous terms was defeated by Balaguer's PRSC coalition in 1986...
...was traced to the army, he remained in prison and a few days later was reported to have committed suicide following interrogation...
...Bosch, still physically and mentally robust at 79, may yet be reelected to the presidency in 1990...
...The aristocracy, which has not always been on good terms with Balaguer, is repre- sented by Donald Reid Cabral, who headed the very conservative "triumvirate" government of 1963-65...
...According to a retired army officer who was among those selected by their peers to brief the president on military grievances, Bosch tried to pull the plug on military corruption...
...The aristocracy, which has not always been on good terms with Balaguer, is represented by Donald Reid Cabral, who headed the very conservative "triumvirate" government of 1963-65...
...The foreign reserves, accumulated first of all from remittances from Dominican emigrants, second from tourism, and--to an unknown degree-from drug deals, cannot be expected to adequately service the $4 billion foreign debt...
...A particularly well-connected polit- ical insider maintains that the three armed services have become highly specialized in their profit-making endeavors...
...The Navy has the concession for facil- itating illegal exit to Puerto Rico...
...The use of military force, coupled with Balaguer's unilateral March 1 granting of a substantial wage hike to public employees, may have contributed to a lull later in the month...
...Whether the armed forces would then allow him to take office may have more to do with developments in the United States than in the Dominican Republic...
...Without even claiming to be a member of the press, I glided through every checkpoint by merely asking if it were the press entrance...
...No one seems to begrudge MAY/JUNE 1988 7him his solitary style of decision-making, and even his would-be enemies wish him good health, largely because of the uncertainties that would accompany his demise...
...Jorge Blanco is under indictment for allegedly trying to muscle in on such scams...
...Balaguer is careful not to tread on the military's toes...
...In fact, the cast of characters in Dominican politics has been remarkably stable for more than two dozen years...
...It is also irreparably split between the factions of Jacobo Majluta and Jos6 Francisco Pefia G6mez...
...This group competes for influence with the other nouveau riche, the narcotraficantes, some of whom ply their trade in the Dominican Republic, while others merely use the country to launder money earned elsewhere...
...At least 11 of the country's 27 provinces were crippled by general strikes, and incidents of violence were reported in the capital, Santo Domingo, and a half dozen northern cities...
...Marines, put down the uprising of Bosch's constitutionalist forces in 1965...
...Officers of the frontier batallion, commanded by one of defense minister Imbert Barrera's sons, alleged that the young man had been killed by his friend, who was duly jailed to await trial...
...Army enterprises are rather more diversified, including the taking of bribes from Haitians entering illegally and the confiscation of their purchases as they leave...
...Not at all...
...And on various occasions since Balaguer's return to the presidency, there has appeared to be an unspoken accord between them to reserve their attacks for the younger generation of politicians...
...The officer corps apparently feels strongly that the institution should run its own rackets without interference or competition from civilian authorities...
...8 REPORT ON THE AMERICAS him his solitary style of decision-making, and even his would-be enemies wish him good health, largely because of the uncertainties that would accompany his demise...
...government...
...At any rate, the climate that so recently prevailed, in which all of the country's ills were blamed on his runaway predecessor, served Balaguer very well indeed...
...By all accounts, Balaguer's relative success is due to his genius for political bargaining and conciliation...
...He also conspired a time or two in the early 1 970s against the government of Balaguer...
...but Pefia G6mez's popularity among the poor of Santo Domingo probably gives him better long-term prospects of reviving the party...
Vol. 22 • May 1988 • No. 3
